The following updates are provided by the Iowa Department of Education.
- A sample parent letter has been developed for districts to use for communication to parents. While it is not required that districts use the attached letter, it will serve as a good model for districts who desire to develop their own communication. For districts that wish to utilize the document, put on district letterhead and add additional information as deemed necessary and appropriate for your context.
- The Title III Network is collaborating on translations for the sample parent letter, but the timeline for when those will become available is still unknown. It may not be in time for the 2015-16 scores, but we will work hard to have as many languages as possible available for the upcoming spring 2017 administration and reporting period. Work with your Title III consultant to access the translations as they become available.
- There have been several changes to the Online Reporting System based on feedback from stakeholders from the field:
- The comparison data will be suppressed on the PRINT VERSION of Individual Student Reports to protect student privacy (due to low N sizes of ELs in many districts). The comparison data will be available in the online system for district use, but it will not show on the printed score reports that are sent home to parents.
- The numeric values utilized to indicate proficiency determinations (-1, 0, 1) have been changed to the corresponding text values (Emerging, Progression, Proficient). This should help to clear up any confusion that exists regarding proficiency determinations.
Iowa's schools are implementing successful reading interventions every day! These efforts are being supported with a symposium to share effective practices in reading interventions. If you would like to share your school’s interventions and/or instructional strategies with supportive data, consider being a part of the Collaborating for Iowa’s Kids (C4K) annual event and share your knowledge and successes with other educators in our state.
School teams are invited to apply to present during a breakout session. Proposals are due by Dec. 9, 2016.
Celebrating Iowa’s Success!
Jan. 23, 2017
Iowa Events Center, 730 Third Street, Des Moines
Registration link
For more information, contact Mary Jane Stites or Mark Crady, Coordinators of C4K Training Cadre, at mstites@heartlandaea.org or mcrady@heartlandaea.org.
PRESS (Path to Reading Excellence in School Sites) Trainings are two-day learning opportunities for training cadre members, agency consultants and school leadership teams. The goal for PRESS and C4K is to train district and nonpublic school staff to use PRESS interventions for literacy at the targeted levels in grades K-6 while developing AEA and state capacity to support implementation within the Universal Instruction and Intervention System facilitation guides.
PRESS is integrating with the C4K statewide system and a variety of learning opportunities and resources for Iowa educators will be available to help establish a school-based system and practices for all K-6 students in order to become capable readers.
Registration Links:
Closing date for registration will be one week prior to the PRESS event.
Storm Lake
Jan. 12-13, 2017
Buena Vista University
Registration Link
Des Moines
Jan. 25-26, 2017
Plymouth Congregational Church
Registration Link
